Today
Mission Carmel has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service. It is also an active parish church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey. Masses are held at 7 a.m., noon and 5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., and Sunday at 7:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 5:30 p.m.
In addition to its activity as a place of worship, Mission Carmel also hosts concerts, art exhibits, lectures and numerous other community events. In 1986, Monsignor Eamon MacMahon, then pastor of Carmel Mission, acquired a magnificent Casavant organ complete with horizontal trumpets for the basilica. Its hand-painted casework is decorated with elaborate carvings and statuary reflecting the Spanish decorative style seen on the main altar.
Carmel also serves as a museum, preserving its own history and the history of the area. There are four specific museum galleries: the Harry Downie Museum, describing restoration efforts; the Munras Family Heritage Museum, describing the history of one of the most important area families; the Jo Mora Chapel Gallery, hosting a cenotaph sculpted by Jo Mora as well as rotating art exhibits; and the Convento Museum, which holds the cell Serra lived and died in, as well as interpretive exhibits.
The mission grounds are also the location of the Junipero Serra School, a private Catholic school for kindergartners through 8th grade. At one end of the museum is a special chapel room containing some of the vestments used by Serra.
Read more about this topic: Mission San Carlos Borromeo De Carmelo
Famous quotes containing the word today:
“Justice begins with the recognition of the necessity of sharing. The oldest law is that which regulates it, and this is still the most important law today and, as such, has remained the basic concern of all movements which have at heart the community of human activities and of human existence in general.”
—Elias Canetti (b. 1905)
“In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)